1999-11-11 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Three Dutch Old Master paintings that vanished in a brazen Christmas Eve theft at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum almost 21 years ago have turned up at a New York auction house, partially closing a chapter on one of the great mysteries to hit the San Francisco art world.

The 17th century paintings, including one whose original status as a Rembrandt is in some doubt, were left anonymously in a box last week at the William Doyle Galleries in New York City, along with a note explaining that they were stolen from the de Young in 1978.

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Harry Parker III, director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, announced the remarkable find at a hastily called press conference Wednesday night, a day after a museum curator flew to New York to confirm that the paintings were in fact three of the four works that were stolen by thieves who broke into the museum by dropping through a skylight.

The fourth painting, Willem van de Velde's "Harbor Scene," is still missing, and the thieves have never been caught.

"I am somewhat relieved because it's been an embarrassing event in the de Young's history," Parker said. But, he noted, all three paintings were damaged significantly and are likely not worth their original value, a combined $1.075 million.

The de Young burglary shocked the art world not just because it was the biggest theft in the history of The City's Fine Arts Museums, but also because of the way it occurred.

The thieves dropped from the skylight, removed the paintings and escaped the same way, using a valuable 18th century walnut chest as a stepladder. Police believe the theft occurred sometime after the museum closed at 5 p.m. No alarms sounded and two guards in the museum at the time noticed nothing unusual. They didn't notice the paintings were missing until 9:15 a.m.

Along with "Harbor Scene," the thieves took Anthonie de Lorme's "Interior of the Church of Saint Lawrence, Rotterdam," Aert van der Neer's "River Scene at Night," and "Portrait of a Rabbi," considered at the time a jewel of The City's art collection because Rembrandt was thought to have painted it.

Despite a $50,000 reward for their return, the paintings' whereabouts were a mystery until Nov. 2, when they turned up in a box near the front desk of the New York auction house, said Louis Webre, vice president for marketing at William Doyle Galleries. At the time, the gallery was holding its weekly open house for members of the public who wanted their art appraised.

"The traffic was enormous in the galleria," Webre said.

"No one noticed that a box was dropped off until several hours later when we got an anonymous phone call saying that there's a box in front of you and it contains stolen paintings," Webre said.

Museum officials immediately called police to check whether the package was a bomb, Webre said. Police, opening the package, discovered the stolen paintings. The investigation was turned over to the FBI, which took possession of the artworks.

The paintings will be returned to the de Young next week after being analyzed by FBI investigators, Parker said.

After the FBI analysis, museum curators plan to scrutinize "Portrait of a Rabbi" to determine whether it is actually Rembrandt's work. At the time of the theft, the painting was displayed as a Rembrandt and was valued at about $1 million, but soon afterward doubts about it began springing up. Leading Rembrandt scholars now question its authenticity and suggest it may have been the product of one of the great artist's students, or even a mere copy of his work.

"The Rembrandt may not be as advertised," Parker acknowledged Wednesday. "This may not be the great art recovery of the century. I think the doubt really came up at the time of the theft and after."

During its absence from the de Young, the portrait - a 31-inch-by-25-1/4-inch oil painting donated to the museum in 1947 - was visibly damaged by an apparent attempt to clean the surface, Parker said. An undamaged Rembrandt painting could be worth upward of $20 million, he said.

But, he said, "it is more likely it's worth less than the $1 million we thought it was worth when it was stolen."

"River Scene at Night" was the most severely damaged of the three recovered paintings, having been split into three pieces. "Interior of the Church of Saint Lawrence, Rotterdam," like "Portrait of a Rabbi," suffered

"cleaning" damage, Parker said.

He said museum officials will attempt to repair and restore the works so that they can once again be put on public display.

"I expect that once we've got them and they're reasonably restored, we will want to put them on exhibition for the public to see," Parker said. "I think the museum will have to address the issue of authenticity (of the Rembrandt)."

The heist, which gained national attention, forced red-faced museum officials to rethink how the museum's artworks were being protected. They eventually spent $1.2million on security overhauls and took out insurance on much of their collection.

The losses from the theft could have been greater. Three works were found removed from their places on the museum walls, but were left behind. One of them was unquestionably a Rembrandt, the portrait of Joris de Caullerii, now worth about $25 million to $30 million. It is currently on display at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Three months before the theft, the "Portrait of a Rabbi" was also the target of a holdup that was foiled.

Parker declined to speculate Wednesday on where the recovered paintings have been for the past two decades, but said he hoped it was a combination of guilt and a lack of selling options that led to their return.

"We were, of course, very pleased to have recovered the paintings," Parker said. "It was an incident that haunted the de Young for a long time." &lt;